Wandere Over Yandere
by Wandere Misteria
Summary: Our favorite duo somehow travels to the future by pure accident - or is it destiny? - and experience horrific things. But the most horrific thing of all... can Wander and Sylvia defeat the unfriendliest face in space before it's too late? Or will they have to accept this grim reality?
1. The Beginning

It was a clear night, and they'd just settled down to steal a few hours of sleep before traveling to whatever their next destination was. Wander was snug and warm in his hat, which doubled as a sort of sleeping bag for him; the hat itself lay next to his best friend, Sylvia, whose neck was stretched around him in a cozy way.

The traveling nomads were content, having helped a lot of people on the planet they were currently stationed on, despite Sylvia's continual grumblings throughout the day. Wander, of course, had overridden her with his overly optimistic attitude, and convinced her to perform acts of goodness with him. Though the orange creature was annoying sometimes, it was hard not to like him, and a positive attitude only helped that.

"Syl?" Wander's voice was tinged with sleepiness as he shifted slightly in his hat and looked at his partner.

"Yeah?" Sylvia opened one eye and directed that eye at him, successfully stifling a yawn. Sometimes the little guy had too much energy for her liking. But the blue Zbornak didn't mind it. It was who Wander was, after all. All the things that made him so charmingly Wander-ish, and Sylvia loved him for that. She hoped it wouldn't change anytime soon.

"I'm really happy, travelin' around with you and stuff like that, Syl."

"I'm glad to hear that, Wander," Sylvia said, smiling a little as an orange arm reached out and wrapped itself around her neck in an one-armed hug, which lasted some seconds, then withdrew into the depths of that green hat. She was touched to hear Wander was happy when they were together, since she was quite the pessimist most of the time. Sometimes it seemed like she was the only one who possessed any sense of how to bring order in a world gone wrong, but Wander often expelled that with his sunshine-y attitude toward everything.

"We have a lot of traveling and helpin' to do tomorrow, so let's get to bed," Wander muttered as he sighed and closed his eyes. A slight shift in movement, and the hat was still again. Only the orange tufts of his fur poked out of the hat.

Sylvia put an arm around the hat, and looked up at the bright heavens. Countless stars twinkled among the deep blue. She sighed contently. Traveling through the universe and visiting planets with Wander at her side everywhere they went – it was the best thing in her opinion, and nothing else could beat it or even come close to it.

A thought rose to her mind, unbidden: the thought of what Sylvia's life would have been like if she and Wander hadn't met. With a slight shudder, she discarded that thought. Sometimes the past was easy to remember, but at other times it was difficult to remember. That was the thing about time – you either forgot your memories, or remembered them. There was no third option. Black and white.

And Wander easily expelled these thoughts with his sunshine-y smile.

* * *

Just as Sylvia was about to drop off to sleep at last, there was a great deal of noise somewhere close by. It sounded like someone was yelling, and as she jolted, she thought about the lateness of the hour and how empty this forested area was in general. Surely nobody was with them, just the two of them, Wander and Sylvia.

"Glorn, can't we get some sleep?!" Sylvia yelled at the darkness, knowing full well that she was probably just yelling at the air. Just to be safe, she stood up and scooped up the hat & the star nomad into her arms, ready to take flight or fight – whichever was easiest. There was a slight shift within the hat, and Wander awoke, looking confused and sleepy.

"What's goin' on? Someone need our help, Syl?" Wander called out groggily, peeking out from his hat, his shoulders visible now. He had heard the noise and heard his friend yell out.

"The only help they'll receive is a kick to the flarpin' face for waking us up!" Sylvia answered. "Wander, I think we better get outta here before whatever made the noise comes after us... Like, really quickly! Can you stay up, or do I have to carry you?"

Wander made no comment as he quickly jumped out of his hat and got onto Sylvia, placing his hat atop its normal position. "...But what if there's someone around here that needs our help?" he asked, looking around and rubbing his eyes to get the last bits of sleepiness out of his system. "With all that noise, there's sure to be folks in need of help!"

This caused Sylvia to groan. At times Wander was unable to appreciate the severity of the situation, and this was a perfect example. "No, listen! You heard the noise, right? It sure doesn't sound like people who need help! Like it or not, we're gettin' out of here."

Wander held on to Sylvia as they rode through the trees, away from the clearing they'd hoped to sleep in. Away from whatever it was that had created the noise. Fast and silent, the two nomads seemed to be filled with purpose and strength, staring ahead as they wove in and out of the maze of trees.

Suddenly and abruptly, a shining blue portal opened up in front of them, and before the blue Zbornak had time to react, they went straight into the portal itself. A series of loud screams and screeches ensued as the strange rift pulled them through time and space.

Then just as suddenly as it had come, the portal closed up, and the night was still once more. No indication that something had happened, none at all.


	2. Terrible Darkness

"Please wake up, Syl! _Please_!"

Wander strained to make himself heard through the pain that resounded within Sylvia's body, and it was with a series of gentle prods and pokes he got her to wake up. The look on Wander's face scared her – it was one she'd never seen before, not even when they were in dangerous, life-threatening situations. It was one of sheer terror. This made Sylvia get to her feet and hold her fists, prepared to fight for her buddy.

"Wander! What's going on? Is there someone who needs their butt kicked?!" Sylvia shouted as she looked around their surroundings. They were in an alley, surrounded by gray and dirty buildings with broken windows. The ground underfoot felt sticky, and looking down, she found that they were standing on top of garbage and other questionable items.

In the distance, there were shouts and screeches. Flashes of light occasionally appeared, the broken windows reflecting that with what little glass they had left. It was ominous.

And that was probably what had scared Wander, Sylvia decided. But the question was – what were they doing here?

She took a second look at her buddy, and realized his orange fur was soaked, not to mention it was dirty. Bits of garbage here and there were stuck, tangled into Wander's fur. Some of his fur stuck out in odd places.

"Syl, I think there are folks out there who need helpin'! I can hear them screaming..." Wander gripped his left arm with his right hand, obviously stressed out. "And where are we? This doesn't look like any planet we've been to!"

Wander was beginning to freak out, and _that_ was definitely not good. Sylvia made a gesture toward him, as to calm him down. She didn't want to see him lose his cool.

"I have no flarpin' idea! And let those people scream – it's us who need help, glob! Get on, Wander. I think it's for the best if we ride to somewhere safe and get information on what's happening. How did we get here?" Sylvia muttered, looking on as Wander mounted her for the second time that day.

"I woke up before ya did," Wander commented in a strange tone as they got out of the alley and off onto a strange street. "I think I remember fallin' into this blue portal..." He took off his hat and rubbed the top of his head as though he was confused, and rightly so – he _was_ confused. And scared. There were people who needed help.

"Yeah, me too," Sylvia said as they continued to speed past buildings and small huts, most of them appearing to be abandoned and in disrepair. The people that had screamed earlier were nowhere to be found, and this worried the two.

The Zbornak wondered if it was a far graver situation they'd landed in, and she shuddered, thinking of all the possible things just waiting to happen to them.

She would not let anyone squash Wander's innocence by witnessing things that were best left unsaid. As for _her_ innocence, well, it had been stripped away long ago, before she'd met Wander and embarked on adventures with him.

There wasn't a single living soul to be seen anywhere among the buildings.

* * *

After a while, when Sylvia had run a good distance, she decided they had to stop and rest before settling on a course of action. "Hey, Wander? I think we'll stop here."

In front of them was a small house. It would provide excellent shelter for the duo, were they to take up residence within its walls. The house itself looked unremarkable, plain and white against the surroundings. It only had one window, and this was a shattered window.

Broken shards of glass were on the ground, indicating one of two possibilities: either time had treated it horribly, or some kind of struggle had taken place within it. Sylvia hoped it was the former. What was it with these places? They'd always looked abandoned.

Wander, unusually quiet during their travel, now burst out loud as he dismounted his steed and landed on the ground, "Yeah, let's stop here! It'd be nice if we had a roof under our heads, don't ya think?"

The wooden door opened with one gentle push, and the partners navigated their way through the darkness, Sylvia's head drooping slightly because of the low ceiling. To avoid bumping into things, Wander threw his hands out while staying close to said Zbornak, who was prepared to fight.

"I can't see anything," Sylvia grumbled.

"Ta-da!" Wander said, brandishing a flashlight out of nowhere and pointing it at her. Of course. He'd probably dug it out of his hat, as was usual with almost all things he had.

"Oww! Get that flarpin' thing _away_ from me," Sylvia muttered, ducking as the beam of strong yellow light landed where she was. Then as the light darted away, she blinked a few times and looked at where it was going.

A flash.

Long bloody strips of what appeared to be...

_Oh no..._

"S-Syl? Did you... just see _that_?" The orange star nomad's voice was shaking, and suddenly he drew close to Sylvia, every single strange of his fur making itself stand out. Sylvia could feel him shaking with fear, as well as shock.

With a loud thud, which echoed in the total silence, the eternal optimist's flashlight fell out of his hand as he wrapped his arms around Sylvia's neck and buried himself in it, trying his best not to cry. But despite that, the tears started to flow.

It was the remains of a small creature Wander had seen.

As the Zbornak and the star nomad embraced each other, Sylvia, with her tail, picked up the flashlight and directed it at the small creature, curious as to how and why it was dead. It was morbid, this curiosity, she knew, but she needed to know. If there was a potential threat lurking around here somewhere, it was essential to know what to do.

Some of the creature's organs were clearly visible, spilling out of its stomach; apparently through a large wound. Its face was partially decomposed, showing what lay beneath the skin. From the looks of it, it seemed as though it had been dead for a while.

But what had killed it?

With a sinking feeling, Sylvia realized this dead creature had probably been the sole resident of this house.

"It's okay, buddy," she said a bit shakily, sitting down along with Wander, still hugging each other. For the second time, the flashlight was dropped, and this drop made its light switch turn off, leaving them all alone in the darkness. "It won't hurt us..."

There was no response, but she didn't expect one. Wander was bound to be extremely frightened of what he'd just seen, and she knew she had to be there for the little guy who'd shed so much light into her life, yet asked for nothing in return - friendship was all he wanted.

As Wander rocked from side to side, completely and utterly silent, she looked over at the shadows that shrouded the dead creature from sight.

And the Zbornak knew they'd have a tough time. It was no hilarious situation, this was something real and serious. A matter of life and death.


	3. Sanity

The only thing that resounded throughout Wander's otherwise blank mind was the terrible image of the dead creature, and the only thing he felt was shock. Deep, emotional shock that blew away all other feelings, and it only made the sight stand out even more in his mind. No matter how much he tried to push the image away, he just couldn't do it.

What if the creature, hidden in the darkness somewhere, had been alive only a short while ago? What if it had wanted help, but died before Wander and his partner could assist it? And most importantly, who would be evil enough to harm an innocent and defenseless creature? This question, while not as frightening as the sight of said creature (for the star nomad, seeing physical proof of death and devastation was solid and real while the idea of a possible killer or two was... _abstract_, somehow), needed a quick answer.

But Wander could not, at this moment, pinpoint the actual killer, and he couldn't put his thoughts together correctly; these were jumbled and in random order, making no sense to him. If he were to utter something right now, it probably wouldn't make a lot of sense. So he stayed quiet, although he continued to rock back and forth ever so gently while in Sylvia's arms. He was glad for Sylvia being there with him to weather this terrible moment.

"...We can leave right now and find another place to stay at if you want to, buddy." The Zbornak tried to sound strong, but Wander knew full well that she was just as scared as him, maybe even more. And the worst thing was, if even Sylvia, the Zbornak who liked to pick fights with people and often was bullish, was scared, then that meant they had landed in a truly serious situation. A situation, Wander hoped, where they could dig themselves out of, like they'd done in other situations.

Wander said nothing in response to what she had just said, but thought it over amid all the confusion going on in his mind. Yes, it was best if they headed to another place, preferably a building where there was music, food, and laughter, but at the same time he didn't want to make Sylvia have to travel for what might be miles in search of such a building.

She had done enough for one day, after all - she'd carried him all day in this strange area where there were abandoned buildings and no visible signs of life anywhere.

Maybe they could sleep outside instead. After all, it was what Wander and Sylvia were used to, constantly falling asleep wherever they were after their travels were over for the day. And it wouldn't be any different, not even if the place they were in right now seemed strange and dangerous.

And he decided to voice that suggestion in a voice so quiet and uncharacteristic that Sylvia had to lean in even closer to the quivering heap of orange fur in her arms to hear.

"I... I think we need to sleep outside. It'd be nice to sleep under an open sky, with all the stars we can see."

The fur heap rolled over and slowly got out of Sylvia's arms, then headed straight to the ajar door with his arms limp at his side. Sylvia noticed that, by the sound of his footsteps, as he made his way to the door, he dodged the location of the dead body - almost as if he feared witnessing what death had devoured in greed and haste again.

"Are... are ya comin', Syl?" Wander asked, adjusting his hat slightly as he stared at where he thought Sylvia was in the darkness. His thoughts were slowly organizing themselves, beginning to separate from each other into coherent images and memories. This calmed him only slightly.

"Yeah," Sylvia murmured as she got up with a groan. "But Wander, I think that dead guy we saw needs to be buried. It's not right otherwise..."

Under any other circumstance, she'd have simply left the body there for potential carrion eaters to come across and enjoy. It was what she had once done in a life without Wander. Once...

But now? Seeing Wander so shaken up at the sight of the dead creature had shaken her, too. She wanted to get rid of the body somehow, to rid themselves of the terrible memory. To give the creature a decent burial. She knew that Wander probably believed they had arrived too late for the creature, but the one good thing they could do was to give it a burial, just so it wasn't forgotten amid the cold infinity that was this world, however barren it was.

However, at the mention of a burial for the decomposed creature and as Sylvia approached him, Wander stood still and grew rigid. Then again in a voice unlike his own, he said, "Gosh, Sylvia, just leave it alone. Whatever it was, or whoever it was, it _doesn't_ need helpin'! Not anymore!_We were too_ _late_!"

His voice rose as he spoke, and at the end, it was shrill and high-pitched. A few solid seconds ticked by in the ringing silence that followed.

Then of all things, of all places, he burst out the door and headed straight to no place in particular, holding fast to the only home he'd ever slept in - his hat. His thoughts were crazed, frenzied, and jumbled up again. Every thought was not immediately distinct; a maelstrom threatened to take place within his mind, pure chaos. The urge to yell arose as he ran, causing him to scream nonsense words to the skies. Wander's heart was beating rapidly, his breathing was rapid and shallow, and his head hurt. Everything hurt.

In the stunned wake of his unexpected departure, Sylvia decided the body had to be left where it was and gave chase to him on all four limbs, snorting and breathing heavily as she ran. "Wander! _Wander_!"

There was absolutely no way she was going to lose him in this strange and unfamiliar environment, where everything was unknown.

Hell, no way. No way was she going to lose her best friend, the only person in her life who gave her what she needed to live - sunshine and happiness.

No flarpin' way.


	4. Wandering and Wondering

**A/N: Whoa. I didn't expect so many people to follow this story, nor did I expect them to leave reviews on this. So I'll say a big "thank you" to all those who read this story!**

* * *

_Where are you, Wander?_

Sylvia had no idea where he'd gone. Initially, he had been visible because of his signature hat and orange fur, so it was easy to follow him on the ground. But then Wander had taken a sudden, sharp turn to the right into trees, effectively forcing Sylvia to stop as she looked around at the trees, trying to deduct what path he'd taken in the failing light of the now setting sun.

It was frightening, how Wander had let loose an outburst and promptly ran away – it was so _unlike_ him. This place seemed to evoke bad qualities instead of good ones, but the Zbornak made a silent promise to herself as she ran that she'd always be at Wander's side, for as long as he wanted her to be with him. For as long as she wanted to be with him. They'd travel the universe.

She couldn't lose the only positive thing she had in her life. Not now, not in the future. Not now. If she lost Wander, well… She didn't want to think about it. The only important thing was to get to him before anything bad happened to him, and if anyone tried to lay their hands on him, they'd get a flarpin' kick to the butt and several quick, hard punches to the stomach before Sylvia sent them reeling away with fear.

Wander normally would have protested the idea of violence against aliens they'd encountered, being the peace-loving guy he was, but the present circumstances were… frightening and quite different than what Sylvia was used to.

So the normal rules were bent and twisted – Wander's "sappy smooshy lovey-dovey silliness" couldn't get them out. Only a little reasoning and much violence could get them out, and Sylvia was only too happy to inflict violence on whoever had the gall to hurt Wander when she wasn't around. Only too happy.

Still, Sylvia continued to run about, even though her quarry was not anywhere in sight. She was used to this, having hunted small weak creatures for meat and for the items they carried in the past. Various emotions grew and withered within Sylvia, but the topmost emotion was concern for Wander. She didn't care about herself; she only wanted to be reunited with him and make sure he wasn't hurt, that he was okay.

The star nomad was her _friend_. And she wasn't going to lose him to whatever world they'd landed in. The only friend she'd ever had, and he had just run away like that. She knew he was not himself right now, which only made it all the more important to locate him before something happened.

As the blue steed came to a stop and lay against a tree to get her breath back, as well as gather her thoughts on what to do next, she thought she could hear a faint mumbling somewhere close by.

She assumed it was just the sound of water flowing somewhere out of her sight, so she thought nothing of it and once more looked around at the trees. They seemed ancient and unfriendly, their bark withered and ashen. As to the leaves, they looked dead, completely brown with not a hint of green among their numbers.

_Everything looks so _flarpin' _strange 'round here. Where did we end up?_

Then another thought came.

_Is he hiding around here somewhere? I can't be sure… Glorn, I hope he's okay._

Wander was probably hiding behind a tree or a rock, or something of the sort. Maybe he might even be hiding in his trusty hat right now, and where would that floppy hat be at if it contained him? Hopefully it was not somewhere dangerous, but who knew? In Wander's current state of mind, everything was most probably a blur to him.

She'd never seen him lose it exactly like this, although she did see him become obsessed with certain things, like white boxes and with helping people even though she'd expressly told him not to do that at some point during their travels. So it was new to her and Wander.

The worst-case scenario, Sylvia thought, was if she found him curled up and insensible to everything she'd say.

No. Just no.

With this in mind, she began to walk, then run, sparing her front limbs this time. That strange mumbling noise came to her again, and now she knew. It wasn't created by moving water, or by anything from nature. Not at all. It was created by...

_Wander! Is that you?!_

The blue steed strained herself to pinpoint the exact direction in which the noises were coming from, and once she had a good grasp of which location to go in, she looked around her surroundings again to make sure there were no potential enemies nearby. Then she really did run.

The trees were a blur to Sylvia; everything else was thrown out of her mind as the most important thought came forward - she had to find Wander. She made several turns through the maze of trees, despite how it was getting darker by the minute.

Then all of a sudden, she heard a scream and the sound of rapid footsteps, then the sound of a furious scuffle came to her. This only encouraged her to pick up her speed and head toward the source of these noises as quickly as possible.

She hoped Wander hadn't just landed himself into serious trouble.

With great strength, one of the characteristics of her species, she punched at various trees, causing them to fall in order for her to pass through. Throwing her head about and snorting loudly seemed like good ways to scare off potential evildoers, as well as her formidable size. It was a good thing she was large compared to her partner.

_"If any of you think you're goin' to harm Wander, you're so _flarpin' _wrong!" _


	5. White Steed

"H-hey... I didn't mean to bump into ya quite like that. I understand you're probably angry and all, but fightin' isn't the best way to take out your anger, f-f-friend."

Wander's voice was weak with fright and the sheer amount of unpleasant things he'd seen during his time on this piece of land, or whatever it was, with Sylvia was enough to completely overwhelm him. But for his sake, as well as Sylvia's sake, he tried to stay strong, and so far, he was succeeding. If only this terrible white creature in front of him would go away, then he'd be able to think a little more clearly. The creature didn't look like it'd be going anywhere anytime soon, however.

The white creature in front of him appeared to be a Zbornak, though it was disgusting and deformed. It gave off a terrible stench of something that had been dead for a while, and what made the image even more terrifying was the three heads that grew out of the Zbornak's neck. They possessed insane-looking scarlet eyes and bright yellow horns atop their noses; just the very design of it all was so... so _disgusting_ and _unnatural_. At the moment, this creature was glaring at Wander, as though it sincerely considered him to be its next meal.

Earlier, when Wander had temporarily lost it and stumbled through the nearby forest with Sylvia hot on his heels, he'd sat down and begun singing to himself in an attempt to calm his nerves. It seemed to have attracted the Zbornak as a result. It'd appeared in the middle of one of his songs amid the lush scenery, just when he was starting to feel like his old self again. It had attempted to get closer to him, perhaps thinking Wander needed to become its meal for the night; it had frightened him. Due to the peculiarity of its appearance and not knowing what it was supposed to be, he'd stopped singing and proceeded to run on foot, away from the vile beast. As far away as possible from the beast, but... But the darned thing had followed him. It'd even thought to ram into him when all else had failed, and this was why Wander felt pain somewhere in his left side - the pain occasionally erupted. The pummeling had taken the breath out of him.

He couldn't think why the Zbornak was attracted to him like a moth to the light, and he fought for an explanation within his fevered mind while looking out for himself as said creature began to advance upon him, saliva hanging in thick ropes around its three mouths. That decaying smell was getting to him; it made fresh images of the dead body he'd seen with Sylvia earlier rise to his mind, no matter how much he tried to push these images away, and it didn't aid him in his efforts to try and think rationally with the fear rising in himself. Rather, it made his thoughts begin to go awry again. He felt sick and dizzy.

_Stay strong for Syl..._

The abstract thought fluttered into existence, and Wander latched on to this thought amid the chaos in his mind. He hoped Sylvia, wherever she was, would come soon and banish this beast to whence it'd come from. Hopefully. If not... well, he couldn't bear to think of the alternative.

Some of the Zbornak's saliva dripped on the floor. Some of it got into Wander's fur, but he ignored this and continued to look up at it. A hand rose to his side, the side that'd been injured by the earlier pummeling he had gotten, and felt it tenderly. He closed his eyes and tried to think of pleasant things. Was this how he was going to die, all alone with an alien creature who was ready to maul him in the most painful way possible? Without Sylvia...

_Without Sylvia..._

No. No. He wasn't going to die without her. This wasn't the way it was supposed to; he was supposed to die _with_ her!

Wander's breath caught in his throat, and he was about to make another run for it when a familiar blue blur burst into the area, knocking several trees over.

_"Wander!" _Sylvia called out, sounding worried as her eyes locked with Wander's, then locked with the disgusting beast's. The blue steed's appearance seemed to trigger something within the white Zbornak - it growled, lowering its three heads, and charged at her. Unfortunately, Sylvia was not quick enough. Her large body sailed through the air and solidly crashed into a tree, causing their surroundings to shake somewhat.

Seeing Sylvia down was disconcerting to the star nomad, and this inspired him to yell at the Zbornak. "_What_ do ya want?!"

He continued to yell at it as he made his way over to Sylvia despite the immense amount of pain he was experiencing, both mentally and physically. His screams didn't make sense anymore, but he didn't care. The only thing that was important was making sure Sylvia was all right, and anything other than that could wait.

Sylvia appeared to have several wounds, all of which were slowly staining the earth with blood. Just the mere sight made Wander squeamish, and the dizziness only intensified.

Suddenly and abruptly, a soft and sinister-sounding voice floated over to the strange assortment of aliens.

"Sylvester... Where are ya, ol' boy? Sylvester! Come here!"


End file.
